June 2, 2005
01:00 PM (EDT)

News Release Number: STScI-2005-18

NASA's Space Eyes Focus on Deep Impact Target

June 2, 2005: On July 4, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft will attempt an extraordinarily
daring encounter with the far-flung comet Tempel 1 hurtling through
space at tens of thousands of miles per hour. As if that is not
challenging enough, the comet's size, shape and other characteristics
are not entirely known.

Two of NASA's eyes in the sky, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes,
helped scientists prepare for the comet encounter. From their orbits
high above Earth, the telescopes watched Tempel 1 in early 2004.
Together they came up with the best estimates of the comet's size,
shape, reflectivity and rotation rate. The data may help Deep Impact
snap pictures of the dramatic rendezvous and increase the probability of
making contact with the comet.